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Vulnerability details: VCID-a9yf-1sxd-8kaf
Vulnerability ID VCID-a9yf-1sxd-8kaf
Aliases CVE-2018-12029
GHSA-jjcj-fgfm-9g9r
Summary Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (Race Condition) A race condition in the nginx module in Phusion Passenger allows local escalation of privileges when a non-standard `passenger_instance_registry_dir` with insufficiently strict permissions is configured. Replacing a file with a symlink after the file was created, but before it was chowned, leads to the target of the link being chowned via the path. Targeting sensitive files such as root's crontab file allows privilege escalation.
Status Published
Exploitability 0.5
Weighted Severity 3.5
Risk 1.8
Affected and Fixed Packages Package Details
Weaknesses (3)
CWE-1035 OWASP Top Ten 2017 Category A9 - Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities
CWE-362 Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
CWE-937 OWASP Top Ten 2013 Category A9 - Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities
System Score Found at
epss 0.00099 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2018-12029
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes
generic_textual HIGH https://blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes
cvssv3 7.0 https://blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes/
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2
generic_textual HIGH https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2
cvssv3 8.1 https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/yaml/suse-cvss-scores.yaml
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2018-12029.yml
generic_textual HIGH https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2018-12029.yml
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.html
generic_textual HIGH https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.html
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12029
generic_textual HIGH https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12029
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-esc
generic_textual HIGH https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-esc
cvssv3.1 7.0 https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02
generic_textual HIGH https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02
Reference id Reference type URL
https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2018-12029
https://blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes
https://blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes/
https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2
https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/yaml/suse-cvss-scores.yaml
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2018-12029.yml
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.html
https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-esc
921767 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=921767
CVE-2018-12029 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12029
GLSA-201807-02 https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02
USN-USN-5261-1 https://usn.ubuntu.com/USN-5261-1/
No exploits are available.
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/yaml/suse-cvss-scores.yaml
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2018-12029.yml
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.html
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12029
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-esc
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Found at https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)
Percentile 0.27242
EPSS Score 0.00099
Published At May 30, 2026, 12:55 p.m.
Date Actor Action Source VulnerableCode Version
2026-05-30T20:53:50.001127+00:00 GitLab Importer Import https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/advisories-community/-/blob/main/gem/passenger/CVE-2018-12029.yml 38.6.0